The family-run company introduced silicon semiconductor technology in the country and recently became the first Indian firm to manufacture silicon carbide components
In the 1960s, when India was making its first attempt at manufacturing semiconductor chips, 31-year-old Gurpreet Singh collaborated with California’s Continental Device Corp. to make silicon chips and devices in Punjab’s Faridabad. Months after commencing the business in 1964, the first-generation entrepreneur happened to meet Homi Bhabha, the father of the Indian nuclear program. When Singh told him that they are making silicon semiconductors just outside of Delhi, Bhabha didn't believe a word of it and said, “Nobody is doing silicon in India, and you can't be doing it.” Only after personally getting it cross-verified did he finally believe it, reminisces Inderdeep, son of the late Gurpreet Singh.
Shortly after, Continental Device India Ltd. (CDIL) became a wholly Indian-owned company and also the first one to manufacture space-grade semiconductor devices for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Apart from aerospace, the 59-year-old company manufactures semiconductor devices for sectors including industrial, consumer electronics, defence, and audio. Recently, the company also started supplying semiconductors for solar panels and electric vehicles (EVs).
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About fifteen kilometres away from Chandigarh, CDIL’s plant in Mohali is spread across 16,000 square meters. While giving a tour of one of the oldest semiconductor assembly and packaging plants in India, Prithvideep, the third-generation entrepreneur and general manager of the company, takes us through the process of chip making. From separating the wafer into individual chips (dicing), placing the chips onto a substrate through bonding, to ensuring proper assembly, wire bonding, and packaging of the chips, the whole process is quite complex and needs attention to details. Going forward, the company has plans to deeply focus on making chips for the automotive sector.